By KEITH LAWRENCE
Messenger-Inquirer
OWENSBORO, Ky. (AP) — On July 7, Gov. Steve Beshear went to historic Keeneland Race Course in Lexington to sign House Bill 3 into law.

The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Tommy Thompson, a Philpot Democrat, provided incentives to attract movie, television and stage show production to the state.

“The morning they passed the law, I sent some e-mails to prospects I was close to losing to North Carolina and Florida,” said Zev Buffman, president of Owensboro’s RiverPark Center.
With the incentives, he was able to sign contracts to build both shows in Owensboro.

“The Drowsy Chaperone,” a touring Broadway production, is being assembled at the local performing arts center in December, and another show to be announced later will open at the RiverPark Center on Oct. 30, Buffman said.

“It’s a new show that’s never been on Broadway,” he said. “I estimate that the direct expenses locally from both will be around $150,000. The first will spend about $60,000 in Owensboro and the second, between $90,000 and $100,000.”

The second show, Buffman said, “is a pretty large musical that will involve a 30-voice local chorale, the Owensboro Symphony and a cast from New York City. It’s an enormous show. I don’t think I would have gotten either without the rebate.”

Todd Cassidy, director of the Kentucky Film Office in Frankfort, had negotiated with the producers of “Secretariat,” a movie about horse racing’s 1973 Triple Crown winner, for three years to try to bring the production to Kentucky.

“The people producing ’Secretariat’ were upfront and honest about it,” he said. “They had gotten the green light for the movie and were about to begin shooting in Louisiana. They weren’t coming to Kentucky.”

Then, Cassidy said, “the governor signed the bill. I called to tell them about it and they were in the state within a week. We got 14 days of filming with an impact of $6 million to $7 million. And they wouldn’t have been here at all without the incentives.”

A smaller independent film, “Popcorn Ceiling,” will be filming in the Anderson County area in December, he said.

“That will have a $3.5 million impact,” Cassidy said. “So, we’ve gone from $0 to $10 million pretty quickly. Our calls have at least quadrupled. Usually putting something together takes time, but these two came together quickly.”

In 2007, the state had a total of 233 days of filming with a direct economic impact of $3.1 million, state records show.

Madison Silvert, vice president of the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp., was working with three production companies interested in filming in Owensboro last year — projects that were derailed by both the recession and the lack of incentives in Kentucky.
He’s not working with any now.

But Silvert said the filming of three reality television shows in the county this year should help raise the community’s profile with production companies.

KET filmed one of Dave Shuffett’s “Dave Does It” segments for its “Kentucky Life” series this summer at Dahl & Groezinger Scrap Iron and Metals in Owensboro.

Shuffett drove a Bobcat, sorted scrap metal, crushed a car and operated a giant magnet for the segment.

ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” filmed the building of a new house for Steve and Melissa Mattingly and their daughters near Yelvington this summer.

And TLC filmed an episode of its new series, “The Imploders,” during the demolition of the Executive Inn Rivermont this month.

Cassidy said his office helped bring TLC to Owensboro.

“They were looking for a nice building to implode,” he said. “We sent out an e-mail to our contacts across the state and Owensboro replied with the Executive Inn.”
 

“It’s rare for a film company to call a community directly,” Silvert said. “They generally go through the state. That’s how we got ’The Imploders’.”

FX filmed for two weeks in eastern Kentucky this year for its new series, tentatively called “Lawman,” which debuts next year. But it didn’t spend enough to qualify for state incentives.

The incentive package — a refundable income tax credit of 20 percent of approved expenditures — is available to companies that spend at least $500,000 to produce feature films or television shows in Kentucky. Broadway Shows produced in Kentucky for national tours are eligible for incentives if they spend at least $50,000.

“I just went to a conference in Los Angeles last week,” Cassidy said. “The key is getting the word out about the incentives. Rep. Thompson did a bang-up job with this bill. That was a very big piece of legislation.”

“The more activity you have in a community the better,” Silvert said. “The reality shows are helping get our name out.”

Buffman said he’s working to bring in a third Broadway show to be assembled in Owensboro in mid-September.

“The rebates will definitely be a good tool,” he said.

As for the future, Buffman said, “I think there’s a better chance for television shows to be produced in Owensboro than films.”

Several television writers and producers are familiar with Owensboro from their involvement with the RiverPark Center’s International Mystery Festival, he said.

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